


Dandelion Pattern

by xf3s



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: ADHD Jonathan Sims, Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, GNC jonathan sims, Knitting, Meet-Cute, Multi, Nonbinary Jonathan Sims, Trans Martin Blackwood, everybody knits AU, original prompt for this was knitting circle rivalry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-05-03
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:47:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23977690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xf3s/pseuds/xf3s
Summary: Jonathan Sims is a library science major and a volunteer archival assistant at the Magnus University campus library. Martin Blackwood is a creative writing major and somehow keeps succeeding on real-life bluff checks.AKA, college AU centered on knitting! Summary to be updated as more of the actual premise is established but for now this is a meet-cute
Relationships: Martin Blackwood/Jonathan Sims
Comments: 19
Kudos: 92





	Dandelion Pattern

**Author's Note:**

> wrote this in one sitting, threw it at my friends for editing, ended up here! genuinely my first time writing/posting pretty much anything, please be nice to me lol 
> 
> huge shoutout to my partner (tenworms on ao3, nbgerrykeay on tumblr) for support + making me feel like an evil genius for giving writing a shot :") 
> 
> also shoutout to everybody in the TMA fandom writing college AUs/fics with knitting in them for both a) posting just enough for me to realize how much of a sucker for those niches i am and b) adding new content to those niches just infrequently enough for me to snap & write my own. 
> 
> i have something of an outline for this so hopefully i'll have more to post soon!! >:3

Jonathan Sims steps across the threshold of the Magnus University campus library at nine-something in the morning and feels the tension in his chest settle. The MU library- any library, really- tends to have that effect on him. His eyes skate over the tiled front entrance floor, the library's shelves further in, the water fountains to the side. It's quiet & empty with the morning. The vaulted ceiling beams slanting sunlight in from the east, lighting on the muraled walls above the entry hall and glinting dust in the air.

Savoring the atmosphere, he keeps walking. Jon nods at Rosie at the front desk, who smiles back at him as always. Jon heads in past her, through a silent study area and the biographies to the library's archival wing. The clack-clunk steps of his chunky boots in the entryway are muffled on the library carpet. Today, he's wearing his usual archival staff badge and pronouns pin on the collar of a nice plaid button up he'd thrifted, unbuttoned over top a long sleeve cable sweater (navy, also thrifted. Normal person clothing stores intimidate him). All long sleeves rolled down- the library's always run a little chilly for his liking. Maybe a lot chilly.

The library (and by extension the archives) doesn't get much traffic this time of day during the rest of the week, but especially not on a Friday, so Jon's pretty much got the place to himself. He hums, happy as a clam- while his position at the library as an archival assistant is technically volunteer work for credit as part of his degree, it's still easily the best job/job-adjacent volunteer position he's ever had. Which is good, considering Jon's majoring in library science, and according to Gertrude his work in the archives is meant to be a snapshot of the sort of job you can get with a library science degree.

As expected, the archives are deserted save a handful of coffee fueled workaholics. Jon heads to the information desk. Gertrude assigns him tasks around the library sometimes for practical experience with different facets of the job, but today he's just manning the info desk for a few hours until one of the other students from the program shows up to swap out. He thinks today it's Sasha taking the afternoon rotation- nice Sasha, not the other one. Either way, he's got a few hours free.

Jon sets down his messenger bag and takes a moment to stretch, bones a-crunch, before settling into his post. Some days he'll set up with his laptop and work on classwork or try and study, but at the moment he's pretty caught up with everything. It feels like a nice day for it, anyway, so he takes out his water bottle (ice water), and his earbuds, and the bag he keeps his knitting in, and starts to work on his latest project- yet another scarf, this time messing around some with seed stitch and patterning.

He's just been knitting for a month or two now, having figured out early on it was a great way to keep his hands busy and pass the time in the archives. He wasn't sure he'd keep it up at first, but something in the rhythm of it and getting to see the result of all that gradual progress manifest before his eyes really stuck with him. ...Though even with several projects successfully completed, he's yet to move on to anything more complex than a scarf (honestly, some of his starter projects are lucky to be longer than they are wide). Jon figures it's done him good to have a low-commitment hobby- to just create for the sake of creating- so he's content to stick with scarves until he's really ready for something more complex. Yarn's expensive enough that he'd rather stick with what he knows for now, too.

Regardless, Jon's knitting during his spare time at the archives has become something of a tradition for him. A solid point in his life, a few hours of peace only occasionally put on pause to direct someone towards this or that section, or to explain the archives' no tolerance policy on vaping. And he still hasn't told Georgie about it.

Jon knows Georgie knits, she has for years, and he thinks that at this point he's been knitting for too long on his own for it to be anything other than a secret. Maybe. The question keeps tagging after him when his brain's not properly distracted- is him knitting even a big deal? It's just a new hobby, Jon's allowed to have hobbies. But he can't shake the feeling that Georgie's gonna kick his ass for not telling her when he first got into knitting, and he kept putting it off, and now it's joined the big pit of secret Jon Facts that Jon calls "being a private person with boundaries" and that everybody else who knows him calls "being a real life cryptid".

..The continued rhythmic clik-clik of the needles grounds him a little, and Jon realizes he never set anything playing in his earbuds, and he's been sat here lost in thought for like 10 minutes listening to Silent Right Earbud by Jonathan Sims (feat tinnitus). He sets his music library to shuffle instead. Touch Tone Telephone by Lemon Demon plays first, setting a solid vibe Jon can sink into.

For most of the morning, Jon works on his scarf in peace. He starts listening to a podcast, swaps that for a different podcast, knits for an hour, plays some sudoku on his phone, goes back to listening to music, does some wrist stretches he found on the internet, points a lost and lonely soul [ahem] a bleary eyed grad student towards the archives exit, goes back to knitting for a while. There aren't many windows in the archives, but Jon's happy to take a break from the world. One foot up on the desk, sitting rather sideways in his chair, Jon feels even less bound by linear time than he usually does.

It's at this point that Jon notices someone's standing in front of him and the archives information desk. And he has no idea how long they've been there for. And he was definitely humming. And he should definitely stop staring at them. Abruptly, Jon recovers his brain & goes straight to part-time-volunteer-archival-assistant mode, setting his knitting down. "Ahem. Ah, what can I help you with?"

The stranger smiles nervously at him, hands twisting idly. He's tall, ridiculously tall, not helped by the fact that Jon's currently sat down. He's got nice hair, curly, and an incredible amount of freckles, and lovely dark brown eyes. Frankly, Jon thinks he'd give amazing hugs. Jon feels himself flush and adjusts his glasses, tucks his hair behind an ear, looks down, suddenly nervous. The stranger starts, "Ah, I- well, I was looking for this book on folklore-". Knowing how this goes, Jon pulls the keyboard for the information desk's computer closer and pulls up a search. Seeing this, the man continues, "Oh, no, I found it, don't worry! Um."

Jon looks up (and up) at him, an eyebrow raised. He might start calling him Mr. Tall in his head. Maybe. ..Maybe not. "That's good."

The man flushes. "Sorry- I just, I saw you knitting, and I wanted to ask what you're working on? If that's alright?" Jon's opinion of him immediately brightens, and Jon's sure his expression does as well. (Melanie insists he has what she calls "resting bitch face", and while he'll agree his "neutral" is most people's "disgruntled", he's not as fond of her & Georgie's running comparison of him to the internet meme they call "Grumpy Cat".) Jon even goes so far as to smile a bit at the man in front of him.

New positive impression in mind, Jon decides to call him Knitting Man until he learns his name. Knitting Man brightens as well at the response, in both his face and his bearing. Jon picks up his knitting, minding the working yarn, to give Knitting Man a better look at it. "It's a scarf! I'm still just learning, really, I only started knitting last month, but I've found it to be really nice to have something to work on while I'm here." Knitting Man admires the few feet of work Jon's got so far- really, Jon could have sworn it wasn't that long, but he supposes that's what happens when you zone out.

Knitting Man reaches towards it but hesitates, glancing at Jon. "Um, do you mind if I touch it? It looks really soft, ah..". Jon takes another solid look at him, then nods.

"Sure," he says, and Knitting Man takes the scarf-in-progress in his hands and actually gasps.

"It's even softer than it looks..! Your stitches are so even, too, wow," Jon smiles at him again, still holding on loosely to the unfinished edge & its needle. It's strange, but something about Knitting Man's delight over this thing Jon's made through time and patience makes him inexplicably pleased.

The tone of Knitting Man's reaction to his scarf-project prompts Jon to ask, "Do you knit? I'd, um, I'd love to have someone to knit with while I'm here." At this Knitting Man pauses, glancing back up at Jon. Jon wasn't sure about the invitation, but now that he's said it he's sure he wouldn't mind it if Knitting Man kept him company.

Knitting Man hesitates, but answers, "Yes! I definitely knit." Jon beams at him, delighted. He idly notes his ears are flushed. It's pretty cute.

"Ah, that's great!" Jon continues, "I'm here Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, in the mornings. If you're free?"

Knitting Man looks a little off balance, but seems at least somewhat open to the idea. He replies, "Yeah, I'm free! Listen, um, I've gotta go, right now, but I'll see you on Monday?"

It's a little abrupt, and Jon hopes he didn't come on too strong. He chirps, "See you then!" as Knitting Man places Jon's scarf-in-progress back on the desk and manages to scamper away- an impressive feat, for someone Jon thinks has to be at least six feet tall. Maybe even seven? After a point, everybody's just "too tall" to 5'2" Jonathan Sims. Jon watches him go, only belatedly realizing as he ducks beyond a shelf that he never got Knitting Man's actual name.

Jon checks the time- 1:28pm- and goes back to his project, thinking idly about Knitting Man. Maybe he should text his roommate to see if he's a) awake and b) wants Jon to bring him anything for a late lunch once Sasha- the nice one- comes in at 2.

**Author's Note:**

> find me @xf3s on tumblr! i love comments + am always up to chat :D


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